Thursday, October 30, 2014

Hmmm. This could be difficult because I'm not sure how much I've already put out there.

Here goes.

TRAVEL

I have been to 37 countries and 42 states. Four continents.

I got my first passport when I was six months old.

I was almost born in Asia but my parents moved home a few months ahead.

FOOD
My favorite ice cream is pistachio. It was weird when I was young because it's hard to pronounce.
I don't really like coffee. I am; however, a huge fan of tea.
I have a weakness for Japanese melon sodas. They're expensive but I can't live without them.

VEGAS
I don't really like clubbing; however, I've been to almost every nightclub (current) in town.
I've seen the Cromwell as three different casinos- Barbary Coast and Bill's Gambling Hall.
I've been on an episode of Mindfreak. No I will NOT tell you which one.

The time I went to my first Yelp Elite party and it was around Halloween and we got free beer steins.

Happy almost Halloween!

My first Yelp Elite party was the big Halloween event. Lisa and I decided to be pirates together since I had two pirate costumes. The event was a bit of a crawl inside the Silverton Casino. We started with a dinner at Twin Creeks, then shots at the bar, and finally dessert at the Mermaid Lounge. Everything was so cute and fun and festive. It was one of the best Halloween parties I've been to so far!

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

I'm so sorry this post is boring. I embarass fairly easily sometimes (doing/saying something stupid) and at times, really not easily at all (nudity related situations). I'm not sure if this is lucky or not, but I've been embarassed moderately so many times that none of them really stand out. I've been walked in on topless, fallen on my ass more times than I can count, and probably said a lot of things I really should not have said.

I guess if I had to choose one, it would be the time I walked in on my grandmother topless. Full on topless. Adjoining hotel rooms mean you should probably not be wandering around topless. Just saying. I am seriously not going to elaborate, it was somewhat traumatic.
On to Tucson Part 2!

My last day was considerably drier. Karissa and I drove out the the Mission San Xavier Del Bac. Beautiful mission in the middle of the desert. We wandered, took lots of pictures of some adorable cacti, and grabbed some frybread. If you have never had frybread, you are severely missing out. It's FRIED BREAD (the name was not imaginative at all). This particular one was filled with beans and cheese. DELICIOUS. We walked through a couple shops and got some really great native jewelry and the shop owners gave us some sage to burn as a "welcome to Tucson" present. So sweet!

Next, we saw a rattlesnake. Not up close thank God, but yes, a rattlesnake. We made the drive out to Saguaro National Park (stopping at the Old Tucson gift shop along the way). I have never seen so many Saguaro cacti in my life. They were literally everywhere. No wonder it's called Saguaro National Park. There were a number of trails and along each trail was a very clear Beware of Rattlesnakes sign. Kinda creepy. We were just wandering down a trail by the visitor's center when a woman overlooking the visitor's center screamed "SNAKE". Now I really don't mind snakes. They're kinda cool as long as they don't sneak up on me. POISONOUS snakes, on the other hand (venomous whatever) are a completely different story. Since the woman was overlooking OUR TRAIL, we decided not to venture any further. We went inside the building and up on to the overlook where the park ranger kindly POINTED OUT the rattlesnake that was right along where we were headed. Kinda cool since we were about 15 feet above it now and watched it disappear into the shrubbery. Not wandering down there now.

We rounded off our exciting rattlesnake adventure with some ice cream at The Hub (I got blueberry pie and dirt) and tamales at the Tucson Tamale Company. Great southwestern lunch with great family before heading to the airport back home to Vegas!

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Crows. It's a Chinese superstition and frankly, they're a bit creepy.
Walking under ladders. Partly because I feel like stuff will fall on me and I'll die.
Opening umbrellas indoors. It's also quite difficult to get out the door like that.
Breaking mirrors. Mostly because of the broken glass.
Anything with multiple 6s. I once stayed in a hotel room numbered 666. Nothing happened.

Since this post is short, I'm combining it with my Tucson adventure part 1!

First let me start by saying it rained almost the entire trip. Not a problem, we love rain. Besides, it's the desert. I flew in pretty late so by the time I got to my cousins' house, we were pretty tired. The next morning we got breakfast at one of the cutest places called Prep & Pantry. It's got what we unanimously agreed would be considered a "farmhouse chic" look. I had an amazing pork chili omelette and Karissa and I enjoyed some prickly pear margaritas.

After this, Shannon drove us up to a park that winds up a hill overlooking the city. Awesome view! Bit scary for those of us who hate heights. LOL We dropped him back off at the house and then Karissa and I headed to the Biosphere. We honestly weren't 100% sure what it was to be completely candid. Apparently a couple decades ago, scientists decided to test sustainability and had eight people go into this building and live completely off the plants and animals inside the building. Clearly, I'm paraphrasing because it was way more scientific than that but basically, we walked through their different environments inside the Biosphere and got to see the plants, the "ocean", and even a tropical rainforest.

After our explorations through the rain forest, we picked up Shannon and grabbed lunch at the Time Market. Adorable hipster spot. Great pizza and a pretty awesome food market with a random selection of goods including really great specialty sodas. I am a sucker for specialty sodas. We brought Shannon back to school and then wandered a few different shopping areas. My favorite was probably 4th Street, they had some really great shops and some cute cafes. The area by the University was really cool too but mostly restaurants. Pretty fun first day in Tucson with my cousins!

Monday, October 27, 2014

Wow that was a long time ago. I can't even really remember 13. No joke. Hm.

Ok, I know you just started home-schooling and don't worry, it doesn't mean you're going to become a social hermit. The friends you keep will be friends you still have today, even if you don't talk much. You're going to move in a few years and even though you will be miserable at first, it's a good move. Somewhere down the road, you'll reconnect with the others and it's amazing to see where they all are in their lives (married with kids, which is shocking for some of them). The friends you make and lose along the way were not worth the trouble anyway no matter how much losing them might sting. The best friends you have now are best friends who will be part of your life forever. You hated them at first but those were good bitches. You're gonna love them, I swear. One of them will even be your BSB date to all their concerts. No joke! The other one might just introduce you to someone special.

Don't worry about boys and dating so much right now. It's not important for a while, trust me. You will make at least three big dating mistakes in your life and they will take a lot out of you. One of them will become an unexpected friend later in life and one of them will just provide the closure you need to move on and find a good guy. The other, well, he was really just a speed bump and you figured that out fast. Good for you! You're going to get hurt a lot and at times you won't feel like you'll ever meet anyone but you're wrong. You'll meet lots of someones.

You're not good at dating around but it will provide you with new friends and funny life stories. Don't be afraid to try new things and talk to people. You're now 28 and no, you're not married but you aren't single either. The guy you're dating isn't at all what you expected but don't worry, he's amazing and handsome and funny and he makes you smile. You met him in an unexpected place at an unexpected time so no, he isn't any of the people running through your head right now.
But that is a really good thing.

Don't stress about what you want to do with your life, enjoy it. You'll figure it out when you're ready. You're going to travel a lot and meet cool people and have a lot of fun when you're old enough to appreciate and understand it better. Your life is actually way cooler than you thought it would be (but no, you are not a pop star or a fashion designer and you won't marry Justin Timberlake). Embrace the country music and dirt roads around you. That sounds weird but trust me, it'll make sense one day. You're not staying here forever so enjoy the quiet lifestyle as much as you can. You will miss it so much in ten years.

Love,
Me

P.S. Stop being a prude about tattoos. You will understand in eight years.
P.P.S. Yes, you will meet the Backstreet Boys, okay?

Sunday, October 26, 2014

I can't imagine ever having a movie about myself. I think that would be a terrible idea. I could; however, imagine writing a wonderful wonderful book loosely based on some life experience and mixed in with some hilarious fictional incidents. In this case, I would suggest Mindy Kaling for the role. I know she's really really busy with The Mindy Project and just being awesome but I feel like she gets me. Also, the voice inside my head sounds an awful lot like her. So if she couldn't play the character, maybe she could narrate.

Saturday, October 25, 2014

I love Sophie Kinsella. She's been one of my favorite authors for years and years. I love that she's funny and her characters are always relatable. I always wait eagerly for the next installment in the Shopaholic series and finished her latest book in a few hours. If you haven't checked out her books, go look them up! They're wonderful for unwinding!!!

The lovely Carly at Musings of a Wanderer and Dorrie at Bear Den Plantation nominated me for the One Lovely Blog Award this week. They're both fairly new bloggers but they're awesome and have quickly become two of my favorite bloggers. If you haven't seen their blogs, go check them out! I'm already hooked!

I've done so many blog awards that I can't think of 15 bloggers I follow that I haven't nominated for something at some point but I can definitely share seven random facts about myself! I'll try to share some new facts since the other ones I'm fairly sure I've shared before.

1. I just learned that I love to cook. Did not know that before. Once a week, my friend and I have our "Ethnic Cuisine Nights". Basically, I go over to his apartment and we cook some completely random ethnic three course meal. It's a lot of fun (because he does the dishes LOL) but it's given me a chance to stretch my cooking legs a bit. I made paneer cheese from scratch the other day (with a cheesecloth and everything), made strudel with no recipe, and also had a couple (but only a couple) epic fails.

2. I know virtually NOTHING about cars but I can tell you a lot of random things about RVs. Most of my life, my family has had some kind of RV or other. We started with a pop-up trailer when I was really little, moved on to a regular trailer, than ten years later, an Airstream. Now we have graduated to one of those big Class A coaches. It gives me something to talk about with country bands' tour managers. SO random. LOL

3. I love costumes with a passion. Seriously. I have a big old trunk full of Halloween costumes and typically, there are shoes and hats to match. I once worked at a costume store and have quite a collection. Periodically, I lend them out to friends and one Halloween event, I actually supplied costumes to all but one of my friends. It was kind of awesome. :-)

4. I've been wearing glasses since I was seven and contacts since I was 10. My father is legally blind and on occasion, I have put his contacts in by mistake and been able to see almost crystal clear.
Kind of scary.

6. I'm super OCD about color coordinating. Every trip I go on, I pick like 1-3 colors, and coordinate around them. Usually this includes nails. I like things to match. EVERYTHING MUST MATCH.

7. I refuse to drink Pepsi. Unless it's Wild Cherry Pepsi. I'm a GA girl and am loyal to Coke. I once asked a vendor if they had Coke or Pepsi and he said "Coke is an extra $2" so I said "Ok". He then said "I was totally kidding". Doesn't matter, I would have paid it. Us ATL peeps like our Coca Cola.

Friday, October 24, 2014

I love these. So much. I use the browns for my brows too so it saves me on having to bring a million brow fillers. I also love this thing.Pinterest

The name is always a bit awkward to bring up in public (and funny), but it delivers the perfect amount of pink cheeked color.

And here is my last Nashville post!
My last day in Nashville was mostly spent alone since my dear Becca had to work. She dropped me off at Opryland and I grabbed breakfast and walked around the conservatory. It's funny, I know this place is huge, but I remember it being so much bigger when I was younger. I walked through 80% of the building in 45 minutes. I swear, I wasn't power walking. LOL

After my Opryland adventure and some shrimp & grits (I can't resist grits), I headed over the the Grand Ole Opry for the backstage tour. It's amazing how much history is in that building and so cool to be in the same areas as so much of country music's greatest artists. I seriously geeked out standing on that six foot circle of the Ryman on the stage. I wish I could have stayed longer and gone to the show that night since there was a great lineup!

Thursday, October 23, 2014

I'm not going to lie, usually I'm way too lazy to do anything other than add Instagram's filters to my photos. LAME, right?? But when I do actually try to pretty them up, I am obsessed with Pic Tap Go. Like OBSESSED.

I love that they let you create filter "recipes". For instance, Roger has his own filter setting. HA. I set up a few generic ones for cloudy days, beach photos, city shots, etc. It makes it way easier!

On a completely unrelated note, on to Part 4 of my Nashville adventure!

This had to be one of the highlights of what was already an amazing trip. I purposely timed my trip before November so that I could see the Miranda Lambert Backstage Access exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame. It did not disappoint! The museum was amazing, so many awesome pieces of serious country music history in one big building. I think I geeked out every single time I turned around. We also made a visit to the Hatch Show Print shop and I got a really wonderful print for the exhibit that Miranda kindly signed for me a few days later!

The time I went to a show just to see the opener and got to hang out with them all night.

One of my fave venues in Vegas was Wasted Space at the Hard Rock. It sadly is no longer there. Some of my fave shows were there and it is where I met my beloved AJ McLean. The venue was quite small and really private so the shows always felt more intimate and the bands more accessible.

I admit, I went to this Plain White Ts concert JUST for Danger Radio. They were one of my fave bands at the time and I'd first heard their song when their video played before a Chippendales show. So random. After their set, the band came out into the audience to enjoy the headliner and since we were crowded over by the bar, we started talking. I told them all about where I heard them first (which they thought was hilarious) and showed them the pics I took of the show (which they really liked). At one point one of the drunker patrons asked me if I wanted to stand in front of him so I could see better instead of hanging out with the openers. That was super nice but I explained to him that the openers were the reason I was there. Overall, a really fun night and to this day, one of my fave concert experiences.

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Lateness- How difficult is it to leave a few minutes early so you can be on time???
Rudeness- Calm down people. I have my moments too but still.
Invasion of personal space- Especially on airplanes.
Over familiarity- I hate it when people act like they know you so well when they just meet you. Awkward. So awkward.
Flakiness- I hate it when people cancel at the last minute. I have a three strikes rule.

On to Nashville Part 3!

After our Franklin outing, we drove around. Becca showed me around the downtown area, a farmer's market, and a few spots I absolutely HAD to check out. Iveycakes made Carrie Underwood's wedding cake so trying her I Do cupcakes was a MUST. We also hit up Hattie B's for some hot chicken, sitting on the patio, and basic people watching. We made a trip to the Parthenon and wandered the park. It was a gorgeous day. We also admired the city billboards and wall murals (I do love me some FGL and Chris Young).

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

I think a month-long train trip around Europe would probably be my number one here. I would love to fly into London and take Eurostar to Paris and then Eurail to all the places I haven't been to yet. I want to see the tulips and windmills in Holland. I want to have real Belgian waffles in Brussels. I want to go back to Copenhagen for more amazing Danishes. I'd love to go back to Interlochen in Switzerland and admire the views. I went to Europe several times as a child but I want to see what it's like as an adult. And it would be nice to go with a significant other instead of mom and dad. lol

I'm not going to lie, Nashville has been one of my bucket list places for the last few years. I've been there several times but never really got to explore the city and all it's country goodness as an adult and I had been dying for the perfect time to go for a long time.

My second day in Nashville was pretty crazy. We did a lot, so much in fact, that I'm splitting it into several parts. The only time I didn't take any pics (whaaaaat) was at the Preds game because we were alternating between yelling and freezing. LOL

We spent our Monday morning in Franklin. While it was super adorable, I've spent so much time in historic town squares this year that it didn't seem too unique, but was definitely still beautiful. We grabbed breakfast at the Franklin Mercantile. Amazing grits. Loved them.

Monday, October 20, 2014

My biggest fear is losing the people I love to death. I worry about that all the time. I've been fortunate, I haven't lost many friends or any immediate family. The people I care about are very important to me so losing them would devastate me.

On that note, I've lost a lot of loved ones for other reasons. I've come to find, when you lose someone you care about to something other than their untimely death, it's typically a good thing. The people that are no longer in my life due to their choice or mine were draining. Life can only be better when these negatives are removed from your life.

A couple months ago, Dierks Bentley cancelled his Vegas show and I was so bummed but then I saw that he had his Miles & Music for Kids show in Nashville right around the time I was planning to visit my beloved Becca so it was a no brainer.

After a major panic attack when my flight from Chicago was cancelled (yes, this was right after the fire when their airports were closed), I got rerouted through Houston and still made it in time to walk straight through the gates at Riverfront Park and get a great spot. The event was awesome with great performers like Jon Pardi, Randy Houser, Kip Moore, Chris Young (my FAVE), and of course, DIERKS.

When the show ended around 7PM, we were starving. We hit up Rippy's on Broadway for some BBQ and Honky Tonk Lemonade. I'd been to Nashville several times but never got to explore much since I was young and my mom is not exactly a country music fan (weird, right). We hung out at Tootsie's for a bit and enjoyed the music all around us on the patio before finishing the night with ice cream. Because, well, ice cream, right?

Sunday, October 19, 2014

I'm not going to lie. My emotions are frequently tied to those around me. I spent a long time being with someone who was miserable all the time so I ended up miserable too. It makes me happy to see the people I care about happy. I like making my friends and family happy.
I like being with happy people.

Being genuinely in love makes me happy. There's no feeling like it. I've only felt that with two people in my life and I can't wait to feel it again.

Additionally, country music makes me insanely happy. It's my happy place, my little getaway from the Vegas craziness. It reminds me of home, it feels like real life, it's genuine. Some of my best memories are tied to my favorite country songs.

Here is my post on Day 03 at Route 91. I actually caught three artists this day which was pretty nice- Dustin Lynch (LOVE him), Tyler Farr, and Jason Aldean. It was a bit quieter since it was a Sunday night which was actually even better. The weather was great and the show was awesome. Afterwards I headed to the Foundation Room for one of the nightly parties (I hadn't been feeling well and missed the first two parties) and got to chat with Dustin Lynch! So cool! Great way to end an amazing weekend.

Saturday, October 18, 2014

I'm really having trouble thinking of any. I don't keep a lot of my own secrets. In fact, secrets kind of freak me out. Maybe the only ones I have are travel plans because I don't really like announcing to everyone where I'm going and exactly when. The closest I can get to sharing that stuff is my 2014-2015 travel list. It's a long one.

Friday, October 17, 2014

Sewing. Been doing it since I was 7.
Scrapbooking. Not difficult but I think I'm pretty darn good at it. :-)
Directions. I rarely get lost. But when I do, it's pretty bad.

Since this is another short post (I'm not very imaginative), I'm throwing in Day 02 of the Route 91 Harvest Festival. This was the day I was most excited about because I had been notified a couple weeks prior that I would be getting to meet Miranda Lambert. I absolutely love her, not only is she an amazing performer, she's so generous and philanthropic. I love donating to her Muttnation Foundation, it's my favorite charity. You might also recall that I literally daytripped it from Dallas to Tishomingo just to visit her Pink Pistol shop and soda fountain.

The day did NOT disappoint. Miranda is truly one of the sweetest people I have ever met and she signed my super cool Hatch Show Print that I got at her exhibit in Nashville! I never geek out when I meet celebrities but I did get a little awkward and giggly. I did still manage to catch most of Dierks Bentley's set as well and it was awesome. I even got to hang out with Brooke Eden for a bit and not only does she have an amazing voice, she's also really really nice. Check out her music!